Innova

Hi, I'm curious if anyone feeding his or her dog this food has noticed abnormal things with their pet. This is a bad time of the year with allergies from ragweed and other things in the air and my dog's entire back and hind quarters are so sensitive, he keeps continuing to lick and scratch. I noticed a lot of others have stated that their dog is either really itchy or has loose stools. I bought a new bag of food less than a month ago and this started happening. the bag I had before I noticed he was licking a bit, but not much. I know P&G is horrible with dog food, but I want to make sure it's the Innova Dog Food that's causing the problems and i'm going to do a process of elmination. He has been on Innova for 4 years and I've never had any issues. I've never seen him like this before. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I may switch to Fromm soon.

I have changed my review on this brand to 1 star since P&G purchased Innova and the quality has gone down dramatically. I had previously heard they signed a 2 year contract to not make any changes, but, from speaking with other people who still purchase this brand, it has went down in quality. I knew it would because P&G cares more about profits then they do about our pets. You would think with the prices they are charging still, the quality would be there. But, think about the volume that they will need to carry because they will let this brand be in every pet store around the country and therefore the volume of sales will increase dramatically, and I have seen tons of Innova commercials when in the past, there were none, and this once great dog food was sold on reviews and word of mouth. P&G has to make up that profit from somewhere, so they will do it with less quality ingredients they put in their other brands. Below was my prior recommendation: Innova is the best dog food o... Read more

We got our great dane when he was eight weeks old. He is now 3 years old. I have fed my dog Innova dry dog food for his entire life. I loved Innova and never had any problems. I had a VERY healthy great dane. That is until April of this year. He broke out with little pink bumps all over his body and some of them came to a head like a pimple. He lost about 35% of his hair. Then we found out he had an ear infection, his teeth went from being white to having alot of tartar on them. He was so itchy that you couldn’t even touch him without him coming off the floor. I started eliminating everything one by one to target what was causing this. Now he was just on Innova and water. I thought for sure I would see an improvement. Not only did it continue, it seemed to get worse. The vet couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him and no one had any answers. I never thought in a million years that my beloved Innova could be the source of the problem. So I took to the internet to do some research on... Read more

My dogs all did well on this food, however, it is more than $2.00 per lb., which is about the same as the price of meat at the grocery store. I mainly feed the Kirkland brand, but sometimes will buy Innova. I do not see any major improvements when I feed my dogs Innova, and my dogs don't seem to like it that much, but it does have healthful ingredients.

YUCK! only becasue P&G owns now... I have already heard of 3 different dogs with upset tummies. the labels havent changed yet, but that doesnt mean the ingredients havent. Plus even if the ingredients are the same, they can still change where they get thier meat, and im sure they are already cutting corners as far as quality ingredients go

The world of dog food brands can be very confusing. Think of it this way. Your dog eats the same food every single day. Therefor, it is up to us, the humans, to provide a balanced diet that provides optimum nutrition for our four legged friends. It is then apparent that like humans, all dogs will react differently to all dog foods. Sometimes you just need to find the best food for your pet. With all of that said here I go. I like Innova as a dog food. It has good protien sources (doesn't use corn or cheap products) and I have yet to find an ingredient I don't like in the foods. Despite this, neither one of my dogs eats this brand. One of my dogs is a picky eater. She simply refuses to eat this dog food. The other has never been on Innova but is doing wonderful on her current food so I have no plans to switch her. I do have lots of friends who do feed this brand consistantly to all of their dogs with good results. I am sure some of you are asking "Why feed such an expensive food?" The... Read more

I have a 4 year old lab that has been on Innova large breed sense I brought him home at 6 months old. I made a mistake of switching to a cheaper brand Blue Buffalo. He did not even get through his second bag and I started seeing a difference in him. Fist was the increase in shedding as in hair everywhere in the house. Second was his teeth started browning and staining. I have went back to Innova large breed and within the first week the difference in shedding and the softness in his coat is very apparent. He has always had a great coat and the whitest teeth and perfect health on Innova. I cannot open feed on Innova because he will overeat and it will cause vomiting. I feed him about 1 1/2 cups twice a day and he does wonderful on it. I highly recommend this brand and intend to continue using it.

If I could give this product zero stars, I would. I was feeding my male cat Eukanuba all his life, and made the switch to Innova after it was recommended to me. My cat is currently in the hospital due to urinary tract blockage, which is caused mainly by diet. I'm switching today.

I have fed Innova to my seven GSP's for several years and have had nothing but good luck with it. Beautiful coats, great stools and good energy levels. The dogs loved it. However, three of my seven dogs have quite eating it. When I add chicken, etc. to the food to get them to eat, they pick out the meat and leave the dog food. Now, I find that Natura Pet Products was recently sold to Procter and Gamble. This makes me wonder if they changed their formula before selling. They also upped their price to $62..99/bag for a 30 lb. bag. I can no longer feed this to my dogs. I have begun changing to Chicken Soup Adult, but have read some really bad reviews on this food. Are there any high quality dog foods out there that I can feel confident feeding my dogs?? Any dog food companies that truly care about the health of our pets??

***EDIT EDIT EDIT*** Wednesday, May 5th, 2010, Procter and Gamble (Manufacturers of Iams and Eukanuba) announced that they have reached an agreement to purchase Natura Pet Products, manufacturer of Innova, EVO, California Natural, Karma, and Healthwise. Because P&G cares about profit and not about pet health, and because P&G has a proven track record of high marketing values of low quality foods, I can no longer give Natura brands, including Innova, a good rating. Previous rating was five stars, and previous review remains below. ****** Another fantastic formula! Innova is another top-echelon pet food, and the ingredients list shows it. Meats are the first three ingredients in the bag. Like Solid Gold, Innova's original formula DOES use rice fractions, and I'm not thrilled about increasing carb portions in that manner, but even taking that into consideration, Innova STILL ranks among the best dog foods on the planet.

I work in a pet supply store and recommend this food to anyone looking to improve their pet's diet. I believe it is made by a good, wholesome company (natura) and that it is what keeps my Boxer so healthy. She has been on it since I brought her home and that was a year and a-half ago. She's got a shiny coat, awesome muscle tone and an exceptional amount of energy. I haven't had any health issues to date. She did occassionally have soft stool or diarhea when she was younger, however I have found that watching the amount/type of treats she's given eliminates that entirely. I am extremely happy with this food and so is she.

Hi,I had my 4 year old lab on proplan all his life.,he had intestinal problems every 6-8 months.,including hemmoragic gastroenteritis (scary) no vet hospital ever had an explanation for his problems.,started doing research on my own and switched foods....ended up with Blue Buffalo and he is doing great.,by the way I notice alot of people think the small sized stool is a good thing..it is NOT and often indicates stomach problems with your dog..finally Rex has a normal size stool for his size.,coat is shiny...he's doing great since I stopped the PRoplan.,truly its ingredients are all junk but I do believe its whatever your dog does best on.,Proplan wasn't for Rex..it was making him chronically ill.....also tried Innova which he also did well with but continued to have loose stool.,but he loved the taste.,all in all...ingredients in Innova are A1 but BB was an easier transition

I had orginally had my puppy AND my cat on Blue Buffalo...at first everything was fine I even thought their coats were improving. Then suddenly they both got very itchy and I didnt connect it at first that it was the food...I switched them both to Innova and they have already improved!!! Neither of them are scratching at all! Hard to believe that Blue Buffalo was causing such a bad issue that couldv've potentially turned worse..I'm glad for Innova! It may be more expensive but you get what you pay for!!!!!

this is the best dog food. i have a old english bulldog and she loves the food. I have no problems with her none at all. Here weight is perfect she has no direa or any other problems. I did a lot of rescearch on the food and innova is one of the best dog food out there. I am very happy with it.

We wanted the best for our Yorkie. When we adopted her, we transitioned her slowly from Eukanuba to Blue Bufalo as it was the best ranked holistic dog food at the store on the day we adopted her. She never had a problem. Then, I wanted to find something even better for our little Yorkie so I asked around and found out that Innova was the way to go. I started transitioning her from Blue Buffalo to Innova and after the 3rd day she started to develop a terrible diarrhea and stomach ache. It got so bad that she would not sleep at night and had constant accidents in her crate (poor thing). To make this long story short, it took us three weeks (plus visits and calls to the vet) AND to go back to feed her Blue Buffalo to get her back to normal. Now her stool is firm again. On the other hand, I have the feeling that Blue Buffalo is not the best tasting food, but her health is the most important thing for us, so I mix her normal food with a little bit of other healthy foods once or twice a wee... Read more

My experience with Innova is great. The transition period was no trouble because I followed the guidelines. My olde english bulldogge was eating Iams smart puppy and I noticed he was developing hives. We switched his food to Innova puppy and now he looks great and stocky. His stool was fine throughout the transition and I even called Innova to get the right transition mixes. first week 75% old food 25% new food. second week I did 50/50. and by the third week he was eating mostly innova and a little bit of Iams. If you follow the schedule, it should be fine. I will stick with innova!

So far so good. I have just recently switched my Sheltie from Hills Science Diet to Innova. I took nearly 2.5 weeks making the switch and she has been on 100% Innova for a little over a week now. She seems to be doing well, no diarrhea like others have mentioned on this site. Like many I was concerned about the ingredients in Science Diet. However, she loved the SD and did well on that: did not have any upset stomach or bowels on that either, and she had a shiny coat, vet said she was in optimum health and suggested keeping her on SD. I wanted her to be on a more wholesome dog food. I likened SD to Wonder Bread, you can live on it and it's fortified, but there are better options out there. Luckily my baby girl must have a cast iron stomach because she has taken well to both foods. The only other food she did not like was the Purina Pro Plan I had originally fed her because that is what the breeder had her on. She would pick at the Pro Plan. She gobbled both the SD and now In... Read more

Both my 7 year old Lab and 5 year old Weimaraner had been on Innova Adult for a very long time and both had been doing fantastically on the food with good energy, muscle tone and shinny fur. However, up to about a month or so ago after I bought another batch of 3 packets of 15 kgs bags, things have been going south. Essentially, my Lab who has always had the most robust stomach started getting very soft and wet stool. I could not possibly comprehend why it happened. After which I took a look at the formula again thinking perhaps may be it was the low fibre content of 1.92%, so I then switched both dogs over to Innova Large Breed Adult which has 3% (which is my usual fibre content benchmark). At first, both dogs were OK, after may be a week, the Weimaraner started getting very gassy and the stool slowly started to deteoriate until it became wet at 1 1/2 weeks. Personally, I hate changing dog food as it is very hard to find one that works. Right now, I have put them on a Wellness Core... Read more

I transitioned my two pups to Innova dry puppy food, first adding a little to their old food then slowly increasing the ratio of Innova to the old food until they were on Innova 100%. I have a Shepard mix (8 months old) and a Cocker Spaniel/Dachshund mix (9 months old). I do not over feed them and they are both very active. I researched this food carefully before feeding it to them. On paper, it's great. The reality is gas and diarrhea, at least for my dogs. Obviously, like people, certain foods agree or disagree with certain dogs. My Shepard mix got the worst of it, extremely loose stools and bad gas the entire time she ate this food. The Cocker/Dachshund mix had bad gas too but his diarrhea was intermittent. I had them on it for 10 weeks, adjusting the daily amounts and feeding times in an attempt to solve the problem before I gave up on it. Aside from the gas and diarrhea, they are very healthy and growing nicely and gaining weight normally. I wish I could keep them on this food b... Read more

I have 4 dogs and feed Innova to my standard Poodle. We tried other well known brands before the Innova, but they just didn't agree with her. Innova solved our problem. Her coat is beautiful and we are both very happy. The only downside I have found is that because I have 4 dogs (each fed a different food), I find that I pay more for dog food locally. I have found petfoodauthority.com to be the least expensive online store - don't know if this is true for other brands of food, but my comparison on the foods I feed and prices paid locally, I get a better deal online.

FOR SMALL DOG OWNERS: I would NOT recommend the DRY Innova for small dogs or any dog with a sensitive digestive system. I tried a small amount of the dry mixed with the canned and my dogs got horrible diarrhea. Small dogs such as Chihuahuas can die very quickly from hypoglycemia or dehydration due to diarrhea. The CANNED reduced fat Innova has been wonderful for my Chihuahuas. They were SLOWLY introduced to it. It took us two weeks to get off the Purina onto the Innova Canned. It is the only food my Chihuahuas will eat. We tried Blue Buffalo canned and then Nutro canned but they would not touch it. Finally we found Innova canned dog food and my picky eaters turned to plate cleaners. Occasionally my female had diarrhea on Innova canned alone so she gets a few kibbles of Science Diet W/D mixed in for extra fiber.

I used this site extensively when I was researching foods for our new puppy. The ingredients in Innova dog foods are definitely top quality, and the excellent reviews and recommendation from our dog trainer really made us think that it was a winner. However, our new puppy, a Bernese Mountain dog mix, did not like it at all. We initially mixed it with the Science Diet they had been feeding him at the shelter. He would pick out the Science Diet kibbles to eat and not even touch the Innova. Eventually, he began to eat it, but it took him forever to finish a bowl of food. We recently switched him to the Blue Buffalo large breed puppy formula (which I was surprised to find at PetSmart), and he has been eating it with no problem, finishing a cup and a half of food within 5 to 10 minutes! We have fed our two older dogs, both Lab/ shepherd mixes, Innova large breed adult food in the past as well. One of our dogs, a very picky eater, behaved much like our new puppy. He really did not like it.... Read more

Good, exceptional ingredients, however after two large bags, the loose stools just didn't end (after a two week transition on top). The thing that really bothered me was that my dog's coat lost it's shine and the got dandruff back and the shedding! I was very disappointed, especially after hearing such good things about it.

Awesome, wholesome ingredients. Just the right amount of everything. Good stools, no gas, shiny coat and smiles at feeding time.

I feel it is an alright dogfood. On a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 8. My little Chihuahua's seem to do pretty well on it. God bless. :-)

I have been feeding this to my dogs for several months. They range form 15 years to 8 months. My Great Dane looks terrific on this food- he is a mere 4 years old and had 2 TPLOs done at the ages of 1 and 2 years. I felt his diet may have negatively impacted his highly suspect gene pool so I switched from the bigger commercial brands until I found Innova. They love the food (he previously had to have canned dog food on top of dry) and he is now exteremely active- almost deying the odds that our vet gave us. I do give him a joint supplement as well since he has tremendous needs for Glucosamine and all that stuff as a Giant giant breed dog. Innova may be making my Bullmastiff puppy flatulent (more than usual) so I am considering changing her food but she is in great shape and very well muscled.Her coat glows.

Damn, I love this stuff.

After trying several brands I've settled on Innova. Purina One and Royal Canin were causing excessive shedding, and I had to feed large amounts to keep the dog healthy. Blue Buffalo caused continual diahrrea. Now I'm feeding a mix of Innova (regular) and Evo, and my Lab/Beagle mix is doing great (good stools, fur is good, energy is high, maintaining weight).

After 2 years of vet bills, allergy staph infection sores and runny stools, I took my cocker off Science Diet Ultra Z (supposidly for dogs with food allergies) and put him on Innova. He has been 8 months allergy symptom free, shiney coat, regular stools, and has his energy back. What a difference. And for those of you that feed your pets IAMS, PLEASE GO TO WWW.IAMSCRUELTY.COM and see if you still want to support this company. Iams no longer owns this company, Purina bought them out. Check the change in ingrediants. It's grocy store dog food, Iams bag and price.

My Terrier mix loves this. I rotate with Orijen dog food, another great product. My dog has had no problems switching over to this food at all. She's a picky eater, but seems to really like this alot. Same with the Orijen. Most all other dog food she will eat for a day or two only, then stops. But these foods must taste much better. And they seem to be very high quality. She has a shinny coat, tons of energy, no medical problems. She had reacurring eye infections when i got her and she was eating Natural Balance. When i switched, her eyes cleared up and she put on a much needed 10lbs. over a 6 month period. Shes a very active dog and i could see how a dog food with this much protein/calories could possibly cause inactive dogs to gain weight.

Hard time switching? CHECK THE TREATS INGREDIENTS THAT YOUR GIVING!!!!! If there were 10 stars, i'd give this one all ten!!!! on and off stomach upsets for my lab puppy last year while on Science Diet. Then the ear/feet/eye started, well, off to the vet, gave me the prescrip food, and boy did "pete" look like a homeless pet!!!! After researching allthis great info,i tried the Innova Adult- YOU MUST GO SLOW - HAVE THE PUMPKIN READY - AND BE PATIENT - I think I took a month. Was it ever worth it!!!! in 36 hours his hair is completely full of shine!!! ears are pink once again, and eyes just glow. His muscle tone is just beautiful, and his mood/behavior is the best. you'll know when you give them too much, even for the first couple of months, increase the amount SLOWLY. Petes been on it for "4" months, and we finally have it very accurate. Still having problems? DONT FORGET TO CHECK THE INGREDIENTS IN THE TREATS YOU GIVE THEM!!!!!!! for goodness sake, detox the body to the food, bu... Read more

ingredients are great, but hootch has had the s*&t;'s a few times so far. we'll see how it goes, if no improvement i'll go back to canidae. although the new formula of that supposedly sucks as well. i don't know what to do.

The ingredients in this food are above and beyond regular dog food! I couldn't believe it when I read it. It was so wonderful that they care so much to use such wonderful ingredients. I am just amazed at the all natural ingredients they use in their food.

My English Springer Spaniel puppy was on the food for 8 weeks. She had runny stools that were very smelly. Then she developed a urinary tract infection. I switched her to Blue Buffalo, and she is doing great!

Great indgredients. Great mauf company. Didn't agree with my pup, gave her yeast infection in her nails after 2 weeks of use.

This is a great food.  The company Natura I feel is a great company as well.  BUT some dogs can not digest it.  It is a very rich food and if your dog has loose stool on this for more than 4 weeks I'd say drop it.  But I've noticed it took a good 6 weeks before my dog had a very consistent stool.  Off and on she had loose stool here and there and even threw up a few times during the 6 week at 100% Innova.  I kept on going and finally everything was fine.  In this 6 week period she showed no signs of being tired, sick, etc...  her coat got so shiny and her eyes so clear and attentive.  Poos were a lot smaller and less frequent.  Vet said she is in optimal shape and to keep her on Innova.  If your dog can handle this food all the better, if not, do not use it.  This is not a food for a dog with allergies and the such.  Its a complex formula.

My shih tzu became very ill while on this highly rated dog food for a year. I switched over after all the scare.I noticed that over many months she started having trouble jumping, then more lathargic and finally throwing up all the time. Now on homemade diet and all symptoms are gone.

Simply a great food, I wish my dog could eat it, but we had to take him off due to his chicken allergies. If Innova made a chicken free formula, I'd have my pomeranian on it in an instant.

My dogs love it.I have 2 jacks and they have been doing great on it. my female had gotten overweight after i started making their food after the dog foods recall. i researched and researched foods and found this one easily accessable and affordable. my female lost the added weight and both my dogs are doing very well with the innova

Initially I fed my Lab "Purina One" because that's what the breeder used. "Taz" eventually started having chronic ear infections, and after the vet found nothing medically wrong, I decided to switch foods after reading about food allergies in dogs. The nearby independent pet store recommended Pinnacle, and that proved to be very good. The ear infections dropped to almost nil. Then the store stopped carrying Pinnacle because they felt its quality had declined under new ownership, and they recommended Nature's Variety. That seemed ok as well, though my dog starting shaking his head more, obviously having some ear discomfort. Well, I procrastinated buying dog food until I basically ran out, and when I went to get more of the Nature's Variety, the store was completely out of ALL dog food. They'd been unreliable before, so I decided to find another supplier. After some research, I came up with a list of three or four foods to look for, and Innova won out because of its availability.... Read more

My golden loved this food...and he had no adverse reactions when I adruptly changed to this from Iams. The ONLY reason I went back to Iams is because his metabalism went out of wack....always hungry, never satisfied, begging.  He just always seemed hungry and he is prone to being overweight.  So I went back to my Iams, and that seems to be the food that works best for him.  But I like the reputation of Innova's company Natura.  They seem to be honest and doesn't sell from hype.  They work from the view point that this food needs to be as close to people food as possible...and it is true the ingredient list will make your mouth water.I'm editing this and raising the rating:  My dog seems to gain weight easily and opine with any food and may have a thyroid problem.  He loved Innova (really loved it) and I have much respect for the company.  So this warrents more of a rating for me.  We might try it again....

I tried this food (puppy formula) with my 10 month old GSP for about 6 weeks.  This food did not do a good job of maintaining her during training at all.  A lot of people claim this is a rich food, and it appears to be with over 500 kcal/cup, however I wonder about the quality of the protein, as my puppy was losing muscle mass while on this food.  She was also incredibly gassy with this food.  She did however have good stools.  It was very inefficient to feed her however, and we are looking for something else.  I wouldn't suggest this food for performance type dogs.

I use Innova cat and Innova senior dog food.  Animals are doing well and love it.

The ingredients listed for the Innova Adult Small Bites are pretty impressive. Several "named" meats listed first, followed by all wholesome nutritious ingredients, makes Innova one of the most nutrient-dense dog foods on the market. Exactly what every dog food should contain.  What Innova doesn't contain is corn, wheat, soy, by-products, fillers  and artificial ingredients of any kind.Though this food appears to be alittle pricey, compared to other so-called premium foods it is actually reasonably priced. You feed less food per day so a bag of food goes farther.  And a well-fed dog is a healthy dog, requiring far fewer trips to the vet.   That in itself is a great money-saver.